I am in the process of creating the big note blocks mentioned in the Fletcher Method. I am not sure what exactly I should be making. I have used some fonts on a word processor and then blown them up on a photocopier. I am going to get these laser cut out of acrylic.
The problem is what to do about note combinations and groupings. This is a problem when you think of successive notes that rise in pitch on the staff. It would be great if there were pictures of the notes somewhere. I have been able to tell a few of them from the photos in the method book.
I suppose that she may have used simple straight sets (2,3, 4 grouped notes) of 1/32, 1/64 notes rather than angled ones while the children were using this larger sized tool.
I am also planning to make the perforated cards. I am thinking that this will involve creating a press template of some kind.
Does anyone have any ideas for either of these?

Hi everybody,
I am wondering if anyone knows how to get some good notation fonts for Adobe Illustrator or other programs like 'Word'? It turns out that to use a laser cutter to cut out anything the template has to be pretty good -wy better than I could do by cutting and pasting paper. Every little notch is copied by the laser cutter.
After three weeks of work I am back to the drawing board.!!

On a related note. I have been unsuccessful at making the big blocks. I had spent a while using cardboard cut outs but they get ruined pretty quickly by the little tikes at school. I have also spent some time trying to create the notes on photoshop so that they could be cut out of acrylic by a laser cutter. Problem is the laser needs the outline of each shape only. Does anyone know of a program that can take the music font and copy the outline only and then save the image as a pdf? The outline needs to be pixel thin (or close to ) I think.

Photoshop can do it for sure...
-rasterize the note
-select the note
-select->modify->border->1
-fill that in with black any color
-bring that to a new layer
-delete your old layer and you should be left with just the outline of the note

If that doesn't make sense, I'd be happy to help out if you want to send the files over

Hi Koenig
Thanks for the tip.
I am a real beginner on photoshop. I was trying some of the things you mentioned and mamnaged to get to a certain point. The files I have were made on CS5. They were originally text but i turned them into images I can't remember how. (I took a simple 1/4 note and made the edges sharper and added holes with an ellipse shaped tool and for other shapes just used simple rectangular shapes.)
If you would be able to help in any way that would be really good. It should't take much for someone with a clue on what to do. you could email me and then I could send the files. You will be able to see what I'm aiming at by the way the files are at the moment and also if you have had a look at the Fletcher Method books at all.
Problem is as I was saying in my previous post. the laser cutter only cuts outlines so the filled in images are no good.
Sorry about the delayed response I have been busy with work and other concerns. This stuff is only a private interest project for me. I don't know if I will even make a business out of it but I aim to do more of a community project to help kids with learning music. I figure that to make any real money as a music school I would need to run too many classes than my time permits. But a single class in a public building somewhere would be a good experiment for Fletcher's Ideas. I first need to make the equipment though in the cheapest way - hence the photoshop project.
Cheers,
Axeman